05 January 2012, Sweetcrude, Yenagoa - The Bayelsa branch of Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday said it had shut down two petrol filling stations in Yenagoa over arbitrary increase of pump price of petrol following the removal of subsidy by the Federal Government.

Head of Downstream, DPR in Bayelsa, Duncan Eradiri in a phone interview in Yenagoa said the Directorate decided to close down the erring petrol station for exploiting the situation caused by the hike in pump price of petrol.

Eradiri who declined to disclose the identity of the affected stations said, it was discovered that they were selling at one hundred and fifty naira per litre, which is above the new pump price of N141 per litre.

” When you are selling above the new rate or you adjust your pump, your station would be sealed”, Eradiri warned adding that the DPR will not hesitate to clamp down on any petroleum dealer in the state found to be exploiting the people in the wake of the recent removal of subsidy.

“We at the DPR are not sleeping. We are going round monitoring the situation in all petrol stations. As I speak now, we are on the streets”, adding that the DPR would continue to monitor the distribution and sale of petrol in the state to ensure normalcy.

Meanwhile, some of the filling stations have devised the trick of shutting down the day only to open at night and selling at the black market rate of N200 per litre to anxious motorists.